Action Team for Partnership Plan, Essay Example

Action Team for Partnership Plan

The target school’s Action Team for Partnership (ATP) will include the Principal, Vice-Principal, Guidance Counsellor, two teachers, one member of the administrative team, and two parents who are currently members of the school’s informal parents association.  The ATP will meet bi-monthly for 1-2 hours to discuss the creation/implementation of the one-year action plan for partnerships and how this plan can improve existing relationships between families, the school, and the community while also forging new relationships with members of these groups who might not have previously been included.  The ATP aims to develop clear goals and objectives for family and community involvement using Epstein’s (2009) six types of involvement as a foundation for developing appropriate activities in each of the six areas.  Reports will be made by the ATP to faculty, parents, and the School Council every three months, with a comprehensive year-in-review report prepared at the end of the school year.

The Vision

Recognizing that both family and school relationships are integral to a student’s success, the ATP Committee seeks to create a goal-oriented plan which will create activities meant to strengthen existing relationships between the school, families, and the community while also creating opportunities to build new relationships.  All members of the committee are committed to building solid partnerships which promote an equitable and open-minded approach to achieving student success.  As such, our one-year and five-year Action Plans for Partnerships will provide activities which promote our vision with the overarching goal of achieving excellent communication and collaboration between the school, the community, and families.

Schedule of Activities for the Six Types of Involvement

Type 1:  Parenting

Activity one–parent workshops.

n the past, the school has offered workshops for parents that are aimed at helping families improve their children’s overall educational experience/goals.  These workshops have been intermittent and mainly focused on scholastic achievement and the college application process.  Activity One will expand on these workshops and make them a regular part of the school year with the goal of having them occur bi-monthly.  The content of the workshops will focus on adolescent development and parenting support — for example, looking at how adolescent development impacts on the learning styles/emotions/social relationships of teens.  One possibility is to bring experts/professionals in from the community to facilitate/lead these discussions, such as having a representative from the Public Health department come in to discuss teen health issues.  A team of three people (a parent representative, a teacher, and a representative from administration) could help to run this program.  They could recruit volunteers from school staff/parents to assist with setting up, informing parents, etc.  The results of the parent workshop will be measured informally through interviews with participants both during the sessions and at the end of the program.  A survey will also be developed by the Parent Workshop team to elicit further information from parents about what worked best for them in the group and what areas may need improvement.  This workshop will help to strengthen the relationship between schools and families while also providing parents with concrete information that can further develop their understanding of and relationship with their children.

Activity two–resource awareness.

Our library has an excellent selection of books, DVDs, and magazines concerning adolescent development, teen issues, parenting issues, and other how to support/build one’s relationship with a teenager.  There are also a number of documentaries and fiction which are related to the theme of parenting and working with teens.  Although all parents have borrowing privileges at our library, few take advantage of this resource.  The ATP will develop a flyer to handout to parents which describes how they can access information through our library.  We will also provide this information to parents through email correspondence.  The school librarian will work with the ATP committee to ensure that parents are made aware that they can use our library.  She will also work to create an environment which is welcoming to parents so that they don’t feel intimidated in using our library.  One possibility also involves extending our library hours so that the library is open an hour earlier and stays open an hour later than it currently does so that parents with difficult schedules can also access the library.  We will evaluate the success of this activity by monitoring parent use of the library throughout the year.  Questions about library access will also be included in a parent survey so that we can improve on these changes.  This activity will help to improve family literacy by encouraging parents to visit the library independently and with their child.

Type 2:  Communicating

Activity one–positive messages program.

The school currently has a number of programs in place to encourage communication between parents and teachers, including a school newsletter and bi-annual parent-teacher conferences.  However, because many of our parents work full-time and do not bring their teens to school or pick them up, there are limited opportunities for informal communications between parents and teachers.  Additionally, when teachers do contact parents (either through email, notes sent home, or over the phone) this is usually in regards to negative issues like poor attendance or behavioral problems.  Our positive message program would encourage teachers to send a personal message home to parents on a weekly basis that briefly states what the student has been working on, what some of their successes have been, and any potential challenges which need addressing.  The teacher would be responsible for this activity and would also be responsible for tracking the messages sent home and any responses from parents.  We will also evaluate the success of this program through specific questions at the end-of-year parent survey.

Activity two–assessment of language needs.

As a small school, we often assume that parents feel comfortable coming to us if they have any specific challenges, including language barriers.  This activity would overcome this assumption by incorporating language issues into the initial interview that is conducted prior to a student entering our school.  This activity can be as simple as asking all parents (at the time of the initial interview) what language they speak at home and whether they need any additional support to improve their communications with the school.  This activity will be conducted by the Principal/Vice Principal.  Additionally, teachers will bring any new information about potential language barriers to the attention of administration.  The success of this program will be measured by the data collected by administration regarding whether they find that there is a need within the school community to provide language interpreters/translators.

Type 3:  Volunteering

Activity one–volunteer survey.

The school  intermittently conducts surveys to identify the interests and strengths of parent volunteers in order to match them up with appropriate teachers/programs/events.  However, there is no consistency to this program and no follow-up with parents/teachers to determine the challenges and successes of using parent volunteers.  A redesigned and regular survey of both parents and teachers will allow the school to make excellent use of parent skills while also identifying areas of specific need within the school.  The success of this activity will be measured by data collected by administration (who will also develop and implement the survey).  Informal interviews with parents, teachers, and students will also help to assess the impact of parent volunteers on the school environment.

Activity two–volunteer training.

In the past, parent volunteers have mostly been recruited on an as-needed basis.  This can lead to a lack of stability and an inability to meet all of our school’s needs because when volunteers are required at the last minute there are not always parents available to fill these positions.  Additionally, some conflict can occur in the classroom with parent volunteers who are unsure of what is expected of them.  These issues will be addressed with the creation of a formal training program which will take place at the start of each school year.  A teacher will conduct the sessions in order to prepare parents for their role as classroom/school volunteers.  The success of this activity will be measured by personal and group interviews after the training session has been completed, and by surveys designed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the training program.

Type 4:  Learning at Home

Activity one–learning journals.

In this activity, teachers will require students to keep a learning journal which tracks homework, upcoming deadlines/tests, and other academic issues.  Parents will be required to sign the journal to indicate that they’ve read the information.  This will encourage students to take responsibility for their homework while also increasing parents’ awareness of their child’s educational progress.  Teachers will be responsible for ensuring that students keep a journal.  Results will be measured by data collected by the teacher regarding parental input and the success of this interactive homework program.

Activity two–academic outcome calendars.

Administration will create a calendar for the academic year which notes potential learning opportunities, steps that parents can take to encourage learning at home, and upcoming activities/programs/deadlines/etc.  This will encourage a stronger relationship between families and the school by providing parents with the information regarding learning opportunities.  The success of the calendar will be measured by specific questions in the end-of-year parent survey.

Type 5:  Decision Making

Activity one–formal parents’ organization.

The school has an informal parents’ organization which meets sporadically.  The informal nature of our parent organization means that the bulk of the work rests on too few people.  As well, because all parents are not involved in this process, we cannot be certain that the needs and concerns of all parents are being addressed.  Thus, establishing a formal parents organization will ensure that more parents are involved in school policy issues.  This activity will be spearheaded by the Principal and Vice-Principal along with assistance from parents who are already involved in the informal organization.  Results will be measured by data collected by the Principal and Vice-Principal concerning the number of parents who get involved in the organization.  Additionally, a survey will gather information about parents’ experiences with this organization.

Activity two–email surveys.

The school currently does not use email at all to provide parents with information about school policy issues or to get feedback from parents regarding the School Council, hiring, and other policy issues.  Administration will take steps to create an email list of all parents and will send relevant information on a regular basis to all parents.  The success of this activity will be measured by parent responses to the end-of-year survey.

Type 6:  Collaborating with the Community

Activity one–linking students with the community.

Teachers currently encourage students to become involved in the community by providing credit for volunteer activities in social service or faith-based agencies.  This program will be expanded to create a mandatory volunteer program for all students.  Under their teacher’s guidance, students will go out into the community to volunteer in senior centers, churches, daycares, the local hospital, and other approved organizations.  This will develop students’ volunteerism and empathy while also forging a stronger link between the school and the greater community.  This program will be facilitated by teachers with assistance from parent volunteers.  Results will be measured by data which collects information about the number of students involved, where they volunteered, etc.  As well, the students and the organizations will be surveyed regarding their experiences.

Activity two–community resource directory.

The school currently does not have a directory of community resources, primarily because it was thought that there was not a need for such a directory.  However, the ATP recognizes that not all families who need assistance are able to ask for it outright.  Thus, administration and parent volunteers will create a comprehensive directory of programs and agencies in the community which can provide support to families.  This directory will be distributed to all families free of charge, hopefully improving the lives of families while also creating a stronger connection between the school and the community.  The success of this activity will be measured by data gathered from parents in our end-of-year survey using questions which focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the directory.

Three-Year Action Plan for Partnerships Outline

In order to maintain the vision which was developed by the ATP Committee, we remain committed to regular evaluations of our programs and practices.  Over the next three years we intend to complete an annual program evaluation which looks at both the implementation and the results of the activities suggested in our One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships.  Following suggestions made by Epstein and colleagues (2009), these  evaluations will closely examine the following areas:

1. Program development
2. Outreach to families and the community
3. Results for parents
4. Results for schools
5. Results for students
6. Needed steps to improve on a yearly basis

The ATP Committee will also conduct an internal review intended to evaluate the success of the committee itself.  This will assess whether the ATP Committee functions as a cohesive, creative, and collaborative group.  Our review will determine whether more members are needed on the committee and whether all groups in the partnership (families, school, community) are properly represented within the committee.  This review will take place annually at the mid-year point so that any necessary changes can be quickly implemented to ensure the continued success of our ATP for the duration of that school year.

Conclusion

The Action Team for Partnership (ATP) has been established to promote the development of new partnerships and the continuation of existing partnerships between families, school, and the community.  The ATP notes that our Action Plans for Partnership represent a valuable tool at the high school level given research which indicates that parental involvement improves students’ school performance and reduces the likelihood of teens engaging in high risk behaviors (Epstein et al., 2009).  As Epstein (2009) notes, “when schools reach out to involve families, more parents become involved” (p. 233); thus, the Action Plan for Partnership represents a crucial step in creating an educational environment which can influence students and their families in meaningful ways.  Epstein’s (2009) six types of involvement are an integral part of the Action Plan for Partnerships foundation and will allow for the ATP to explore a variety of creative and engaging activities to better involve parents, the school, and the community in creating a safe environment which promotes all learning goals.

Table 1: Type 1–Parenting

Table 2: Type 2–Communicating

Table 3: Type 3–Volunteering

Table 4: Type 4–Learning at Home

Table 5: Type 5–Decision Making

Table 6: Type 6–Collaborating with the Community

References

Epstein, J.L., Sanders, M.G., Sheldon, S.B., Simon, B.S., Clark Salinas, K., Rodriguez Jansorn, N., VanVoorhis, F.L. … Williams, K.J. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.